Zorya Luhansk 1-0 Leicester: Poor decision-making from Foxes

Leicester City’s perfect record in Europe was broken by SC Braga last time out, and now the Foxes have faced their first loss in the competition, a 1-0 defeat to Zorya Luhansk.

After confirming qualification with a draw in Portugal, Leicester City had the privilege of letting some key players stay at home for the trip to Ukraine. Amongst those were Jamie Vardy, Jonny Evans, Kasper Schmeichel, and Youri Tielemans. The latter two have been extremely busy this season, with congested games for their national teams alongside club football, with the Belgian definitely deserving his rest – however, his industry was sorely missed in the defeat.

Leicester City reverted to a four at the back formation, deploying two holding-midfielders – with Wilfred Ndidi returning to the starting XI. Structurally, it looked like a 4-2-3-1, as Hamza Choudhury seemed equally as deep in the midfield as Ndidi, with Dennis Praet slightly more advanced, playing in the number 10 role.

In the previous fixture in the UEFA Europa League, I stated that the Foxes didn’t have an on-the-ball presence in the double pivot (which consisted of Choudhury and Praet) and that situation wasn’t resolved by adding Ndidi into the centre of the pitch. Leicester City really missed a dictator of play, a Tielemans or Nampalys Mendy, who demand possession from the defenders and control the tempo of the game.

Instead, the opening exchanges were turnover-heavy, with both sides struggling to impose any control in the midfield – this was aided by Zorya Luhansk fielding central-midfielder, Dmytro Ivanisenya, at centre-back due to injuries for the Ukrainian side. This end-to-end opening didn’t favour the Foxes, as in the first 20 minutes, Zorya created four shots and had 62.1% possession.